Antonio Tamburini

[1] Born in Faenza, then part of the Papal States, Tamburini studied the orchestral horn with his father and voice with Aldobrando Rossi, before making his debut as a singer, aged 18, in La contessa di colle erbose (Pietro Generali).

Castil-Blaze described his voice in The Harmonicon of May 1833: However, it is apparent from several comments in the English and Irish press that, certainly by 1847, he had acquired a vibrato.

[citation needed] He was renowned also for his good looks and impressive stage presence, often working with the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini and soprano Giulia Grisi.

Indeed, he was one of the so-called "Puritani Quartet" of leading international singers, along with Grisi, Rubini and the bass Luigi Lablache.

The quartet was reunited on stage, albeit with Giovanni Mario replacing Rubini, in 1843 at the premiere of Donizetti's Don Pasquale.